Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world.

March 29, 2006

Today’s announcements

Happy birthday goes out to Sheri of the survivors from her friends at Storytime Tapestry

Now onto the good stuff!

Today’s Queue Stories

~**~**~

The View From My Kitchen Window

By

Pamela Perry Blaine

All houses should have a kitchen window.  At least, for me, there is a lot to see in the view from my kitchen window.

It happened many years ago, but it was a view that I can still see in my mind’s eye.  It was one of those significant moments that has always stayed in my memory.

It was a spring day, a Saturday, and I was washing the dishes when I happened to look out the kitchen window into the back yard.  My husband, Mike, was out cultivating the garden with a tiller.  Right behind him was our son, Jeremy, who was four years old at the time.

Mike was moving the tiller very slowly in order to do a good job of breaking up the soil for planting.  My son was just inches behind my husband and each time that Mike took a step, Jeremy took a step. He would carefully put his own small foot in the huge imprint made from my husband’s boot.  Jeremy had to really stretch in order to imitate the larger stride of his father. Very slowly he extended each of his legs, one at a time, almost as far as his legs would go. The process was slow.  He took a step with his right foot and then his left and then he would wait patiently for when it would be time to take the next step.  

Sometimes Jeremy would lose his balance because he would become engrossed in a glittering rock or a wriggling insect along the way.  The dog that kept barking for him to come away and join him in a frolic also distracted him.

Yet, even when Jeremy stumbled or fell, when he got up and fixed his eyes on his father, he was able to follow in his footsteps.  Once again he followed ever so slowly and carefully, placing his right foot where his father’s right foot had been and then placing his left foot where his father’s left foot had been.  As long as he concentrated on following his father, he stayed right on the same path and never fell.  Although Jeremy didn’t know it, his father had been watching over him all the time, even when he stumbled and fell.

That view from my kitchen window has remained in my mind until this day.  In one way it is a literal picture of the need of a child for a father’s good example. 

It is also an illustration for all of us. We also need to follow our heavenly Father a step at a time and then wait for the next step like Jeremy did with his earthly father

How many times have I bounded ahead of my Father, only to find dry, hard ground that I couldn’t manage because it hadn’t been tilled yet.  I ran into trouble because I didn’t wait for the Father to go before me and prepare the way.

At other times, I became tired of waiting for the next step and began looking around at all the glittering rocks of the world that led me astray.  There were times that I listened to the barking dogs around me too.  They beckoned me away, making empty promises until one day I had almost lost sight of my Father.  Yet, like Jeremy, all I needed was to turn around and fix my eyes on my Father who had also been watching over me all the time.

There can be a lot to see in the view from my kitchen window.

 By

Pamela Perry Blaine

© December 2005

About Pamela:  She enjoys writing, music, and country living.  She writes"Pam's Corner" for the local newspaper and many of her writings have been published on the internet as well as in several books.
Pam says, "I have loved music and writing ever since I can remember. I play piano at church and I'm an avid reader. One of my goals is to be able to write for my children and grandchildren so special memories will not be forgotten."  She has a CD entitled "I'll Walk You Home".  If you would like one, they are available by freewill donation.  More information as well as a clip from the CD is on her website at
http://blaines.us/PamyPlace.htm

e-mail: pamyblaine@blaines.us

~**~**~

LOOKING AT THE HEAVENS

By: Joseph J. Mazzella

     I am finding myself looking at the heavens a lot more these days. I am trying to watch and enjoy as many sunrises and sunsets as I can, and I am letting their beauty fill my soul with happiness. I love seeing God paint the heavens with glorious reds, purples, pinks, oranges, and golds. I love gazing with wonder at these ever-changing masterpieces. Every sunrise feels like God is welcoming us to a new day full of wonder and delight. Every sunset feels like God is kissing us goodnight and wishing us sweet dreams. Every time I look at them too I feel God’s peace and joy, and I know that I am loved by the greatest love imaginable.

     Looking at the heavens helps me to feel the Heaven inside myself too. When I gaze at the sky and witness God’s glorious creation I want to thank God for my own life and all the wonderful blessings in it. When I stare at those beautiful sunrises and sunsets I happily remember that I am here to live a beautiful life full of peace and love myself. When I look at those bright heavens each day of my life I want to share the Heaven in my own soul as well.

     Every day the sun rises again in the morning sky. It’s welcoming beauty and light is always there even if it is sometimes hidden by the clouds. Every evening the sun sets in the night sky but not without a promise of even more beauty and light the next day. Take some time today to look up at the heavens then. Take some time today to find the Heaven within yourself. Take some time today to make your own life a Heavenly light full of love, joy, peace, happiness, goodness, and delight. Take some time today to share that light with the world and show others that they can do the same. Take some time today to remember that God loves you and wants you to live a life as joyful as the sunrise and as beautiful as the setting sun.

Joseph J. Mazzella
joecool @ wirefire.com

Joe lives in West Virginia with his wife and three children. Various dogs and cats have adopted Joe and his family for their own. Joe enjoys his family, beauty, love and hearing from his email friends. Joe likes to take the time to smell the roses and enjoy the beauty around him as he goes about his daily life.

~**~**~

~ Are We Happy, Really? ~

Joyce C. Lock

Are we getting just old enough, and on so many medications,

That we don't realize how down right irritable we can be?

Or, have we not realized how unhappy we really are?

     Upon first entering the workforce, I was in shock, and sometimes thoroughly angered, to discover the authoritarian, legalistic, generation of adults who (had controlled our every thought and being) didn't even have their own act together!

     Only then, these adults were deacons, Sunday School teachers, and the like ... with a different code of ethics in the workplace.  Evidently, all that lust and greed wasn’t the answer, because they still aren't truly happy.

     Now, my youngest is having her first experience in the workforce and she, thoroughly, loathes her job ... not because of employers or even co-workers, but the customers.  It isn't just an occasional cranky old biddy.  As she says, "Mom, it's all of them!"

     Customers make the same purchases, over and over, with the same gripes.  She's in the food business.  So, there is pre-knowledge that food will taste the same, be wrapped the same way, customers will be charged the same ... every time.  My daughter questions, "If they really don't like our product, why don't they go somewhere else?"

     Evidently, customers do like the product, as this store is a multi-million dollar business.  Though, multitudes do appear unhappy, as retailers well know.  Maybe we can keep it all neatly tucked, take it out on clerks and waitresses, none the wiser.  Now, that's a plan!

     Why don't we just admit it?  "I am not happy.  My life sucks!  There isn't a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  There is no outside source or circumstance that will bring long term happiness."  (Happiness is not a position, situation, or standing that we or anyone else can create.  It comes from within.)

     Maybe, then, we would face the truth.  Our methods don't work.  Not even religion brings lasting happiness.  Only God can bring the kind of peace that passes all circumstances.  And, to find it, perhaps, we could begin considering He really does have the answers!

© by Joyce C. Lock
http://our.homewithgod.com/heavenlyinspirations/

Poetry Section

~**~**~

 Spring

 Debra Shiveley

Spring comes not quickly, yet neither does she crouch in the shadows of
Winter ready to pounce, for she is gentle.

No, her arrival is subtle, sweet, and most of all, beautiful.

She dances above the tree tops, twirling and spinning under the guise of
March winds.

Her step is delicate and spontaneous, even hesitant, as she pivots her way
along the sky, covering the earth with her sweet, moist breath.

She comes in the sunshine of April with her intoxicating perfume hanging -
floating in the air.  Her days are pink – she blushes – laughs in the brooks
and streams, just newly awakened.

Then, she is crowned in the flowers of May – her coronation and greatest
glory. Lady Spring, how lovely you are!
 
Now, sweet as she is, she slips by, with only a whisper, and introduces her
sister – Summer.

Copyright 1978
Debra Shiveley

merribuck@aol.com

~**~**~

 Springtime

 Debra Shiveley

The earth exhales in gratitude at the hope of Winter’s end; flowers in bloom

herald the arrival of Spring.

Youth rejoices as the air warms with the scent of daffodils, and glorious tulips stand like lovers side by side;

Birds trill their joyous song; hungry mouths stretch toward the sky, as Robin and Jay and Sparrow renew the promise of the season with new life.

Those of us who remember yesterday and yesterday and yesterday more, stand and stretch and warm our bones beneath Spring’s rejuvenating rays,

And once again our hearts lift in thankful prayer,

for another Spring is ours.

Debra Shiveley Welch

copyright 2oo6

meribuck@aol.com

Debra - Mitakuye oyasin - We are all related.

Author of "A Very Special Child" - An Adoption Story - http://www.whodathunk.org
 
I firmly believe that I have received the same child I was meant to receive whether I gave birth or adopted.  The same soul, the same entity was meant to be mine from the beginning of time. Debra Shiveley Welch "A Very Special Child"

We love our life on the lake where birds and animals of every description abounds www.merribuck.com

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous -- it is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.  Elizabeth Stone."

~**~**~

Readers Feedback

The new writer you have added to the Newsletter does wonderful work. Welcome Mary Dees! I look forward to reading more of your work!  Dianna Doles Petry

Carol,
     The newsletter was fantastic today.  You blended the stories together
perfectly.  I was delighted to be a part of it.
      I want you to know that I am still keeping your kitty in my prayers. 
I hope that you are keeping your hopes up.  God bless you always.  Wishing
you every joy, Joe

Joe Cool's story is so very true. I know people laugh at me for helping others, and I have a tendency to say, "You can have it" if someone sees something I have and tells me how beautiful or pretty it is"  I just like to share. But Joe is right. That makes us happy. Jene

Karen, As the Proud Parent of a US soldier who has been in Iraq twice, I'd like to thank you for what you are doing for our troops. It does mean the world to them.

Aro

I like Hart's poem for St. Patricks Day - Jene

Excellent story! Congratulations! – Loren Moore & Clara Westerfer, SM Thompson
 

Carol, that was sooo nice of Paula Booher to write those poems in dedication to your Seti... I cried like a baby while reading them.

I, too, pray every day for Seti's safe return! In one of your emails you said that a psyhic saw Seti in a stairwell of a neighbor's home so I'm praying that if the psyhic's vision is true, that this person returns Seti to you real soon!!!

Rosanne   
(a.k.a R.C.Kayla)
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief and writer/author
www.rosannecatalano.net
Publisher: The Cat's Meow for Writers & Readers (A Progressive Ezine)
Author: Touch of Tomorrow - In Loving Memory (book of poetry) and numerous short stories, poetry and articles published online & in print.

Thanks for sharing this, Carol. I loved it and I think this is the kind of test that teachers need to use today. There seem to be too many kids out there that have very little common sense and even less listening skills.

Prayer Requests and Updates

I will keep Janice in my prayers. Jene

Senior Writers

Chief writer: Sharon Bryant

Agee, Vance; Apted, Violet; Baker, Kathy; Batt, Al; Berry, Nell; Blaine, Pamela; Boda, Ginger; Buhagiar, Victor; Cassady, B.J.; Cavalera, Robyn; Crider, Mark; Deming, Barb; Doherty, Maria; Gilbert, Robert, Jr.; Goodier, Steve; Braun-Haley, Ellie; Harris, Kathy Anne; Hunt, Sharlett; Hymes, Christina; Jacobson, Gary; Kiser, Roger Dean; Kerens, Claudia; Kevin, Tim; Jenkins, Pamela; Liles, Norma; Lily Jodi Flesberg; Lock, Joyce; Marlor, Janice Bumbalough; Mazzella, Joe; Morris, Deepak; Ojeibge, Georgewaters; Petry, Dianna Doles; Roberts, Susan; Shiveley, Debra; Shaw, Bob; Sims, Richard; Streidel, Saskia; Swarner, Ken; Vaknin, Sam; Verhoeff, Jan; Walker, Bill; Walker, Joe; Warner, Gordon, K; Walsh, Sue; Weymouth, Barbara J.; Whirity, Kathy;

Wainland, Westerfer, Clara; David; White Robert;

Storytime Tapestry Staff

Carol Roach - Founder/publisher

Thelma Hartselle - Co-Founder, Moderator

Clara Westerfer – moderator

Bob Johnston - moderator